Data sources

Social science researchers can work with both data they have gathered specifically for their own research – primary data – and data that has been already produced by others – secondary data (Matthews & Ross, 2010). The sources of data may therefore be classified into (a) primary sources and (b) secondary sources.

4.3.2.1 Primary data

Primary data sources are original sources from which the researcher directly collects data that have not been previously collected (Krishnaswami &

Satyaprasad, 2010), e.g., in the case of this research collection of data directly by the researcher on stakeholder roles and responsibilities, expert views on effectiveness of policy interventions etc. Primary data is gathered by the researcher using a data collection method appropriate to the type of data that is being collected (Matthews & Ross, 2010); these can include both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. Primary data are therefore first-hand information collected usually through observations, interviewing, focus groups, surveys etc.

4.3.2.2 Secondary data

These are sources containing data which have been collected and compiled for another purpose. Secondary data is mainly used by researchers to serve three purposes: a) for reference purposes, b) for benchmarking, and c) for more detailed/secondary analysis of datasets (Krishnaswami & Satyaprasad, 2010).

There are a number of types of secondary data:

- Data that have been gathered by other researchers using a method of data collection, for example, a questionnaire survey or interview. The data is then made available for further analysis.

- Data that have been gathered by governments or other organisations for their own research or recording purposes, for example, national health and safety statistics, European working conditions surveys etc.

- Data that are produced in the course of an organisation’s activity, for example, policy documents, legal documents, doctors’ or social workers’

case notes. Here the data has been produced for a particular purpose

and may or may not be available in the public domain. A number of documents on evaluation of policy initiatives fall within this category of secondary data.

- Data produced by individuals or groups as their own means of communication, for example, letters, diaries, etc. Again these data have been produced for a particular purpose and may or may not be available in the public domain (Matthews & Ross, 2010).

Since secondary data are not produced primarily for a research project at hand, the researcher if using secondary source data must still consider how the data have been collected and analysed as well clearly indicate how it will be used in their research (Matthews & Ross, 2010). If good quality, accurate, pertinent and up to date secondary data is available, its use offers researchers a number of advantages:

- Secondary data sources are faster and cheaper to secure.

- Secondary data can extend the researcher’s time and space reach, by allowing them to cover a wider geographical area and longer reference period without increased costs.

- The use of secondary data broadens the base from which scientific generalisations can be made. This is especially so when data from several geographical and cultural settings are required for a study.

- The use of secondary data enables a researcher to verify the findings based on primary data and vice versa (Krishnaswami & Satyaprasad, 2010).

4.3.2.3 Data sources used in this research

The research utilises data from a number of primary as well as secondary sources. Primary data was collected using interviews, focus groups and surveys with key stakeholders. Most of the primary data were collected by the researcher as part of the PRIMA-EF project⁷. However, additional data were also collected to supplement the PRIMA-EF data (see Table 3.2 for details).

7 To promote a unified approach for psychosocial risk management, the European Commission funded the development of the Psychosocial Risk Management European Framework (PRIMA-EF). The framework incorporates best practice principles and methods of all existing and validated psychosocial risk management approaches across Europe.

The research also makes extensive use of secondary sources of data which includes the use of official surveys and reports. The use of such information is a debated practice in the field of policy research, refuted by some, for producing overly deterministic and artificial depictions of phenomenology (Allan, 2007). On the other hand (Bulmer, 1984, p.86) said that “official statistics and reports produce interesting findings on contemporary society which, despite their shortcomings [of high susceptibility to political manipulation and individual or organisational appropriation]... go to considerable lengths to reduce error, and as a result may produce high quality data”.

The research also uses published publicly available documentation in relation to social policy, legislation, integrative infrastructure, social dialogue and guidance across Europe in relation to psychosocial risk management, work-related stress, violence and bullying. For the final study in this research the publicly available ESENER dataset (EU-OSHA, 2010a) was also used. The secondary data sources used in this research are presented in Table 4.2.

Table 4.2: Primary and secondary data sources used in the research

Data source Study/Chapter

Primary

- Focus groups (with stakeholders)* Study 1 (Chapter 5) - Stakeholder survey* Study 3 (Chapter 6) - Interviews (experts from

international organisations/NGOs) Study 2 (Chapter 5) - Interviews (with policy experts)* Study 4 (Chapter 6) Secondary

- Policy implementation reports Chapter 3 - ^Regulatory ‘hard’ policies Chapter 3 - ^Non-regulatory ‘soft’ policies Chapter 3

- ESENER dataset¹ Study 5 (Chapter 7)

* Indicates data were collected as part of the PRIMA-EF project

1 Indicates data were collected by EU-OSHA

4.3.3 Methodological approaches: The qualitative - quantitative